IN THE PACIFIC. 195 



ten feet from the ground ; the top of this tree 

 had been blown off, otherwise it would have 

 been fully 300 feet high. The biggest trees 

 are by no means the best for ships' use; the one 

 selected for a fore yard for the " Repulse " was 

 a beautiful spar, without a branch, and scarcely 

 a knot for the first 100 feet from the ground ; 

 the price asked for this spar was only 25?. the 

 same tree would have been worth 400Z. at 

 Valparaiso. 



There is good sport to be had in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Chemainus, both deer, and grouse ; 

 and ducks are to be found in great numbers on 

 the flats at the mouth of the river; but the 

 best sport is to be got on " Admiral " and 

 " Thetis " Islands, a few miles from the anchor- 

 age at Horseshoe Bay, as the grouse are not 

 often shot there, and the deer swim off to them 

 to escape from panthers, which infest the woods 

 on the mainland. 



One day whilst shooting with an officer of the 

 " Repulse," who had come with me for the trip, 

 we happened to look in at a farm-house to ask 



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